After years of battling complications arising from his initial bout with cancer, Steve Jobs learned in February that his time was finally running out. In his final months, he surrounded himself with those most important to him: his wife and his children.

For the past few months, Jobs had been the recipient of numerous calls and attempted visits to his Palo Alto, Calif., home, as whispers spread of his worsening condition, The New York Times reported in an intimate piece on the Apple co-founder.

Jobs had quietly shared with a few of his closest friends that he thought his time was becoming short. In the final days leading up to his death this past Wednesday, there was an incessant stream of phone calls from well-wishers.

Jobs' wife, Laurene, fielded most of the calls, and in the final weeks had confided in one caller that the former Apple chief was too weak to climb the stairs of his own house. She apologized to friends, saying that Jobs only had so much energy for farewells.

"He was aware that his time on earth was limited," close friend Dr. Dean Ornish said. "He wanted control of what he did with the choices that were left."

Most of that time was spent with his family, the report noted. When Jobs was able to make it to Apple, he would finish his work for the day and immediately return home for dinner with his wife and children.

Flowers and Apples left outside Steve Jobs' home in Palo Alto. Credit: Peter DaSilva/The New York Times.

Because of his extreme secrecy, there is little known as to how Jobs' wealth will be distributed. Many wealthy business leaders leave their estates to foundations or charity, but there has been no news on how Jobs planned to mete out his roughly $7 billion fortune.

"Everyone always wanted a piece of Steve," an acquaintance told the Times. "He created all these layers to protect himself from the fan boys and other peoples' expectations and the distractions that have destroyed so many other companies."

Jobs' home was surrounded by security guards in the months leading to his death, with two black SUV's blocking his driveway. On Thursday, the two vehicles were removed, to be replaced by flowers, candles and apples from visitors.

In a Time magazine interview, Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson asked him why he had consented to a biography, given how private he was. Jobs replied, "I wanted my kids to know me," adding that he hadn't always been there for them and he wanted them to "know why and to understand" what he did.

Jobs gave some insight into his thoughts on "why" in his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.

"Death is very likely the single best invention of life," he said. "It is life's change agent."

The benefit of death is that it allows you to not waste life living someone else's choices, Jobs went on to explain, adding that the most important thing to have is "the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Near the end, Jobs turned his words into practice, choosing to concentrate on his family and those that depended on him.

"Steve's concerns these last few weeks were for people who depended on him: the people who worked for him at Apple and his four children and his wife," said Mona Simpson, Jobs' sister. "His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us."

Little is known of Steve Jobs' personal life, and he wanted it that way. His obsession with secrecy continued until the day he died, but perhaps, in death, he will be better understood. His biography will be released in two weeks, and Time has released a special issue to commemorate the Apple co-founder.

Jobs' acquaintance, speaking to the Times in anonymity, may have put it best: "Once you're gone, you belong to the world."

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

If you think the term, Hero, is defined by Sacrifice in War, then you have a very limited understanding of the construct.

If you think it is defined by Sacrifice in Peace, then you have a limited but greater understanding of the construct, relative to War.

If you need it explained that Inspiration is soul of a Hero then you are beneath any attempt at reason.

For his sister to convey, ``His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us,'' speaks volumes to me how much his very essence was embodied in all that he envisioned for every project he oversaw.

He has nothing to feel terrible about. The world is a far better place having his presence make such a lasting change to the evolution of society.

I feel such mixed emotions: sadness for Steve's family who will have to rebuild their lives without him; gratitude for having the pleasure of using the products he and his team at Apple have developed over many years; hope that business managers worldwide will learn how to run innovative companies; hope that ordinary people will learn the lessons contained in his Stanford Uni speech; and finally inspired to know that Steve managed to achieve so much change in a world that is so resistant to change.

Thank you Steve, and thank you Laurene and your children for allowing us all to benefit from your husband's amazing life.

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

Your first sentence has some merit, but the rest is quite off the mark. The young and naive, those without a sense of self, want to be someone else, but for mature people, and those who will be mature, wanting to BE someone else is not what drives them or their goals.

You lose your way when you bring technology into the equation. It was in technology where Jobs' skills were apparent, but his/Apples productivity, his leadership, vision, ability to define perfection, the ability to walk the walk, to provide cover for those others at Apple to lead is certainly applicable to other realms.

Look at what the US society has become? It is driven by at best mediocrity, leaders who are petty, truly ego driven, and abject failures as measured by what this society has become.

Steve Jobs and Apple gives us hope that it doesn't have to be that way. Thus the sadness and tears for a mere CEO.

It's kind of cool that we all get to choose our heroes, and it's amazing what inspiration can do to change even one other person's thinking if even for a short time. Steve changed our society in ways we as a species won't really understand until we can digest it from afar with enough time to have passed to wipe it clean of emotion and see it for what it was, and connect the dots... kinda like steve said .

But the sad thing about losing a hero is, indeed, the lack of future input. In that regard, we are all fortunate that steve put so much of his personality into his company and especially into his products. We are all holding a piece of his legacy in our pockets, in our hands, on our desks. All mere tools to help us navigate life better, and make better use of our limited time.. if we choose to. Almost some irony there.

the thing I am most concerned about is with his death, it could mean the end of a technology renaissance. Because, really, that is what steve jobs lasting legacy will be. How to remove the bottom dollar profit squeezing approach to developing technology and go a different route to make an unfathomable core change to society. All with a technology realistically built to be an addition to our lives that becomes indispensable as much as it enables us to learn more faster and improve. All while having a good time.

Here's to his vision making lasting changes on the next generation just as much as he did on ours, and many after that, so we constantly improve and have a good time. Just like he'd want.

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

And your need to troll at a time like this says a lot about who you are as a person. In case you think otherwise, you've said nothing wise or profound. You just needed to spill some bile... and no doubt you're somehow proud of yourself for it. I pity those around you, who have to live with you in real life. Next, perhaps you can protest outside the funeral of a soldier.

I was reading on another site that the Westboro Church was planning to picket at the furneral.

This was their reason

"Margie Phelps, daughter of the small churchs founder and the lawyer who represented the church during their First Amendment case at the Supreme Court, (which Westboro won,) was among the Phelps family members to use Apple products to Tweet about the death of the Apple co-founder. "Westboro will picket his funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin," Margie tweeted Wednesday. night on her iPhone"

I was reading on another site that the Westboro Church was planning to picket at the furneral.

This was their reason

"Margie Phelps, daughter of the small churchs founder and the lawyer who represented the church during their First Amendment case at the Supreme Court, (which Westboro won,) was among the Phelps family members to use Apple products to Tweet about the death of the Apple co-founder. "Westboro will picket his funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin," Margie tweeted Wednesday. night on her iPhone"

Sick group.

There is a special place in Hell reserved exclusively for the members of this group.

My personal view is that Steve Jobs' greatest legacy to the world is not the technology he oversaw the birth of, because although it had an impact on millions of people, that impact in itself was not so important. Had there been no Apple, there would still have been personal computers, and digital music players and so on. I think his greatest achievement, and the one that set him apart, was that the aesthetic was central to everything he set out to do, and achieve. His relationship with Jony Ive was critical because he teamed up with an artist who could express that aesthetic in physical form, and what characterised Steve's second period at Apple was the sheer beauty of the products produced.

Oscar Wilde famously defined a cynic as "Someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing", so by that definition Steve was the antithesis of a cynic because he understood, deeply and fundamentally, the value of the aesthetic, the true meaning of that much diluted word 'quality'. I think this is why he elicited such a strong affection from so many people, he introduced those high qualities into people's lives. Smuggled them in almost! Think back to the impact the original iMac had. Into a sea of bland, beige utilitarianism burst that beautiful Bondi blue curvaceous thing, transforming the look, not just of computers, but consumer electronics generally. Within a couple of years things like steam irons and coffee makers were being made using the same smooth lines and bold colour, a mould had been broken and in a small but nonetheless significant way the world as better off for it.

It was more than just the look though, the aesthetic is not just about the form but the marriage of form with function. I remember the instructions that came in the box with that first iMac. It was a poster size sheet which when folded out revealed three instructions. I can't remember the exact words but it was something like 1) plug in. 2) switch on. 3) surf the net. Brilliant. A touch of humour in the mix as well. I also remember the first time I picked up an iPod. The first impression was how beautifully it sat in the hand, it just felt right. The second was how, within two minutes, without instructions, I could fully operate it. Form and function in symbiotic tandem. A work of genius.

Even in his first time at Apple, when the computers just looked like they did, there was always the operating system. It's often been said that the Mac was 'intuitive' to use and that is true. The learning curve was shallow because the operating requirements of the machine had been interpreted into a human form. To work it there wasn't much to learn because you knew it already.

So this is what he gave us. Not just devices that did things, but a piece of true quality in our lives and in our consciousnesses. That is an incredible, and valuable gift. At the Stanford speech mentioned in the article one part stood out for me. He was saying how he was drifting through college, yet to find a direction in life. One day, on a whim almost, he attended a class on calligraphy and it deeply affected him. The minimalist perfection of each character struck a chord, and really you could say the Apple story started right there. That serendipitous moment underpinned everything he subsequently achieved, it's why the font on the menu bar as I write this was chosen so carefully and is just right. It is an example of the 'butterfly effect'. Had he not wandered into that class that day, the world we live in today would be subtly different, just a bit less than it is. That is an extraordinary achievement for one man, and why his loss means so much.

Believe nothing, no matter where you heard it, not even if I have said it, if it does not agree with your own reason and your own common sense.Buddha

For his sister to convey, "His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us,'' speaks volumes to me how much his very essence was embodied in all that he envisioned for every project he oversaw.

He has nothing to feel terrible about. The world is a far better place having his presence make such a lasting change to the evolution of society.

Well said, and may I add to your first sentence "... all that he envisioned for every project he oversaw and more so, envisioned for everyone he came in contact with, indeed-the world."

The first words I wrote in my 2005 Moleskine were, "Stay hungry, stay foolish" because they seemed so carefree, yet so profoundly sensible. It was a Steve Jobs re-quote from the back page of "The Last Whole Earth Catalog" - which was The Bible for the supposedly really cool guys of my generation - and those words made and still make life so much more of a pleasure for me... now bordering on being a great-grandfather, still basically broke but having no care about riches, and as always being in love with wonderful people who give without ever thinking of asking for anything in return. Steve Jobs of Apple, and David Ogilvy, the advertising copy-writing guru, were the two men whose "words of wisdom" excited me most about how to be creative, loving and happy... all in one package. I've shed enough tears this morning at the sad news... and it's now time to get on with the day - life goes on... but his words about life and death from his Stanford speech will always be a great comfort because of their reality to everyone's situation... especially to those we love.

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

Your opinion is noted. Lucky for us that most of society believes the opposite that you do. You are the type of person who likes to try to bring others down to make yourself feel better. You represent the bad side of humanity. You are the anti-hero. Jobs was everything that you are not, and so you lash out at him. Jobs focused on making the world a better place. He was not selfish and cared nothing about money. To me, and to many other people, he was a hero more than any other person in our generation. He gave me my tools that I use to feed my family and pay my mortgage. He game me ways to organize my life. He inspired me with his creations, and he was my role model of how one can follow a dream with little compromise.

What I'm most amazed about is how he did what he did while knowing his fate. It's one thing (an amazing thing) to do what he did in good health, but it's another to do it while knowing you're terminally ill. It really blows my mind. It humbles me to no end.

Just curious: since he died of a rare form of pancreatic cancer ( and we know most cancers are hereditary), ...

This is not true actually. Most cancers are caused by environmental toxins.

Several types have a hereditary predisposition involved but even then avoiding the actual toxic causes would still mean you had a very good chance of not getting the cancer. For instance you can have a hereditary predisposition to breast cancer, but if you don't drink or smoke cigarettes and keep your weight down you may never actually get that cancer.

My personal view is that Steve Jobs' greatest legacy to the world is not the technology he oversaw the birth of, because although it had an impact on millions of people, that impact in itself was not so important.
[...]
Had he not wandered into that class that day, the world we live in today would be subtly different, just a bit less than it is. That is an extraordinary achievement for one man, and why his loss means so much.

Second that, 100%. Aesthetics and human usefulness first, profits in business will follow. They even ran the business as a work of art, as evidenced by their website, their PR and ads, their stores and customer service.

There has never been a consumer-oriented company with this level of attention to useful aesthetic detail, ever. It's new and singular because he saw so deeply into things. This is what contrasts him with other great innovators of the recent past that many have mentioned.

Some of you may disagree, but I think he had a spiritual purity that he could apply to his work, and as we are beginning to learn, in his personal life as well.

Guessing that's why at his last appearance at the iOS5 event this past summer he heavily stressed thanking and praising "family" and all the families who have supported Apple. Steve Jobs, respect always.

My policy is to avoid engaging trolls for the simple reason that they want attention and they don't deserve it. Rarely do they add any real facts or interesting information to a conversation; it's mostly self-expression, and their opinion matters little to me. However, since self-expression is what the forums are all about, it's amusing to me that trolls would flaunt their ignorance, pettiness, or lack of intelligence in public like that. In particular, I find condescending trolls who sit and judge the "rest of us" the most ironic and preposterous.

To the trolls and haters, I say: there's nothing wrong with self-expression; just remember that what you say about others says less about others than it does about you.

I always admired Steve Jobs for how little I knew about his personal life. Despite having decades of professional life involving Apple's products, having turned down a couple of jobs there (dammit), and knowing a fair amount about Job's achievements, I've never once felt subjected to Too Much Information with regard to the man himself.

Before our media culture, celebrities were famous primarily for their accomplishments. Once it became possible for the face of a stranger to be as familiar to us as those of our parents, children, or lovers, it was inevitable that we'd all become grotesquely obsessed with thousands of people who have nothing to do with our lives other than profiting from our attention. The achievements of those few of these who can be said to have any are generally trivial: they are in essence famous for being famous, i.e., for their desperate, anything-goes narcissism.

I know almost nothing personal about Steve Jobs, and yet if I listed every famous name I know, I suspect his impact on my life and my world would be greater than all the others combined. No doubt there's a fair amount of tabloid fodder involved who among us who's tried to live authentically hasn't been involved in our share of train wrecks?

To adapt and paraphrase my grandmother's oft-repeated cliché, however often a person of worth's achievements may appear in the press, his or her person should be mentioned there only at birth and death.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for giving your gifts back to the world. I won't read your biography or the article above, or allow myself to know the personal details of your life or death. Why should I? You've already shared your vision with me. The rest is just talk.

Who we are, who we admire, who we view as heroes, says a lot about who we are as a society. I think it is kind of sad that Steve Jobs is considered such a hero. Has the technology he brought to us made our lives so much better? I don't think so. Yes, it is cool. Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue. Good for Steve. I just hope in those final moments he really had something that mattered to him beyond ego and wealth....it is a nice title for an article, but is it true?

Steve represents the false belief that we Americans love to hold on to "anyone can be Steve Jobs if they just work hard enough." How sad and untrue.

Why is this untrue? Steve Jobs wasn't the offspring of wealthy people whose name and money opened doors that were otherwise closed, as is so often the case anymore. He was adopted by working class parents. Imagine how far one could go if, say, your grandfather was a bank president and your mother was on the board of directors a big national organization like the United Way.

Sure, Jobs hardly accomplished what he did alone, but does anyone think that Steve Wozniak would have ever started a business and been able to push something like the Apple ][ onto the market by himself?

Why is this untrue? Steve Jobs wasn't the offspring of wealthy people whose name and money opened doors that were otherwise closed, as is so often the case anymore. He was adopted by working class parents. Imagine how far one could go if, say, your grandfather was a bank president and your mother was on the board of directors a big national organization like the United Way.

Sure, Jobs hardly accomplished what he did alone, but does anyone think that Steve Wozniak would have ever started a business and been able to push something like the Apple ][ onto the market by himself?

It's untrue because SJ was truly gifted- he possessed something that can't be taught, no matter how rich nor how smart even if your poor. It's the ability to actually bring it all together- the talent, the vision, the leadership, the integrity, the perseverance, and the passion. Very rarely does one have it all. SJ had it and we were all lucky to benefit from it. Did he have flaws? Yes and he acknowledged them which showed his strength. He will be greatly missed- a light that shined brightly in our mist.

It remains astonishing to me how a company and a leader of that entity can design and build something that people get so attached to. I am included in this ... as if the device has become part of us in some way. Perhaps it is. It's used to communicate and learn, two of the fundamental aspects of being human.

They become extensions of the human experience.

May Steve rest in peace of course, and he did have a positive impact on many ... but we are all a bunch of crazy monkeys for sure (typing away on our keyboards hoping to make it through the best we can).